by David Rogers
Darryl bent closer to Bobo. The old biker grinned lopsidedly up at him. “You strong. You been coasting for years, playing the easy card, but you got it. It in you. What you done since we got out here prove it.”
“I just done what you said.”
“Naw bro, you done what needed doing. You a smart Dog, and I picked you out for a reason. You gotta be the brother everyone look to. That on you.”
Darryl nodded unhappily. Bobo sighed again. “You gonna hate it. You gonna hate every minute of it, but it ain’t chilling and grooving no more. Shit serious. You gotta be more serious or it all start tearing everyone up. Ain’t no room for fucking around no more. You get me?”
“Yeah bro, I get you.”
Bobo nodded. “Good. That good. You gonna be fine.”
“So are you.”
Bobo just looked at him. Darryl refused to look at Vivian, he just met Bobo’s eyes. The Dogz founder didn’t say a word, just gave him a shadow of that look he used when someone was playing the fool.
* * * * *
Jessica
“Zombie.” Candice said.
Jessica lowered the saw and looked around quickly. Candice was standing a few feet away, where she wasn’t under foot, but she was pointing off to the left. Looking in that direction, Jessica found the staggering figure just emerging from the far side of the field.
She didn’t think it was fair to call the land around the house they were occupying a farm, because except for the little garden, it was all just grass. But there was an awful lot of open space that looked like it was just waiting for a tractor with a plow to come by. The trees bordering the area weren’t too thickly clustered, but they were thick enough that Jessica didn’t feel comfortable going anywhere near them.
Too many ways for a zombie to show up unseen, without warning.
Instead, she was focusing on the trees closer to the house, the ones in the middle of the cleared areas. She hadn’t bothered to try and figure up any sort of estimate, but she was fairly certain they’d run out of food before she ran out of low hanging branches in the middle of the fields to collect. And it let her be comfortably assured that nothing could sneak up on them while working.
Now she studied the zombie for a moment. It looked like it was wandering a little aimlessly, but she expected it would quickly spot them and head this way. Certainly by the time she and Candice could make it back to the house. That would just draw it over there, so she nodded calmly.
“Keep an eye on it for me Candy Bear. Make sure I don’t forget about it, and I’ll shoot it when it’s closer.”
“Okay.”
“And remember to keep watching everywhere else too.”
“Yes mom.”
Jessica grinned faintly at the, very slight, undertone of exasperation in her daughter’s voice. Watching for zombies was apparently getting to be old hat. Enough so that Candice was treating it like the other things she felt her mother nagged her about. Jessica went back to sawing on the maple branch. Half a minute later and the saw had bit through enough of it for the branch to sag to the ground. She completed the cut, then pulled the branch over to the waiting wheelbarrow.
The zombie had definitely noticed her and Candice, but it wasn’t moving very fast. Jessica had time to lay the branch across the wheelbarrow and cut several of the smaller limbs off before Candice spoke again.
“What about now?”
Jessica looked up again. The zombie was maybe fifty feet away. Nodding, Jessica wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and laid the saw atop the wood she’d already cut. Turning, she limped a few steps clear of the wheelbarrow and drew the Shield from the holster at her back.
The smaller pistol used the same ammunition as the MP5, which meant they had a lot of bullets for it. The SUV was reasonably stocked, which made sense considering who had been driving it before Jessica took it. The Taurus’ forty-five caliber rounds were in shorter supply. She pulled on the pistol’s slide to load the first bullet in the magazine, then raised the weapon in both hands. The sight dots wavered a little as she lined them up on the zombie.
It was staggering back and forth as it made its way toward them. She got used to what there was of its pattern of movement and let her aim settle on it, then sorted out her breathing too. Practice, practice, practice. Austin said that’s all shooting was. Something to work on like anything else. Start slow and before long the habits began to ingrain themselves.
The dots’ motion stilled as her breath exhaled, and she watched the zombie’s head slide into alignment with the sights. Her finger compressed on the trigger, the gun kicked lightly against her hands, and the zombie’s head wasn’t in view anymore. Pulling her gaze away from the trio of dots as she lowered the Shield, she saw the zombie was on the ground. She waited ten seconds, counting slowly in her head, but there was no more movement.
“Good shot mom.”
“Thank you. Good eye spotting it so quickly.” Jessica said as she safed the pistol and slid it back into the holster.
“How much more wood do we need?”
Jessica considered. She had already dumped one load of cut branches on the edge of the back patio. The wheelbarrow was mostly full again. “I’ll finish this branch and we’re done for today.”
“I still don’t understand why Austin says we should cut the wood before we need it.”
Jessica smiled as she resumed sawing the branch into smaller pieces. “Long story short, fresh wood is harder to make burn, and it smokes more when it does. Even with that other bag of charcoal I found, we’re probably going to be out soon. Cutting these now will be good later.”
Candice was looking around again, her head turning in complete circuits of the fields. “But we don’t know how long we’re going to stay here.”
“As long as we can.” Jessica said as she sawed. “But probably four or five days. The wood can come with us though. There’s room in the car to take it.”
“And we’ll find another house when we leave?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I think it’s a good plan.”
Jessica laughed. “Thanks. I’m glad you and Austin agree with the plan.”
“What are we going to do after we’re done with the wood?”
“We’re done with the wood?”
Candice heaved a melodramatic sigh. “You said I couldn’t use the saw, but that I could be the lookout. That means I’m helping.”
“You’re right. I’m being unfair. When we’re done with the wood, I want to finish going through the bedrooms for clothes. Then it’ll be time to change Austin’s bandages, then lunch, and after that I thought we could play cards for a while and maybe work on the clothes.”
Jessica saw Candice was thinking about something, and waited patiently. Finally, after she’d almost finished sectioning the branch into handy pieces that would fit easily in the barbecue grill, Candice nodded unconsciously.
“I think I’m going to let Austin win if he wants to play Nah-Ah later.”
“What?” Jessica asked. “Why?”
“Because he’s hurt, and winning’s fun. He says it’s boring waiting to get better, so I guess he should get to have fun.”
Jessica resisted the urge to giggle. She pretended to be looking for a good spot to place the last cut with the saw while she covered her amusement. When she was sure she could speak normally, she shrugged nonchalantly. “That’s very thoughtful. But you have to be careful about something like that. If he catches you letting him win, it won’t be as fun for him as you’re hoping.”
“I don’t know.” Candice remarked. “He likes being sneaky, and he likes catching others being sneaky.”
Now Jessica did give into her impulse to laugh. “I think you might have a point there. You’ll just have to try it and see.”
Jessica finished sectioning the branch, piled the pieces into the wheelbarrow along with the hand saw, and lifted the handles. Her knee was slowly improving, but she still took it easy as she rolled the
wheelbarrow over to the back porch. The wood went down atop the earlier pile, then she left the wheelbarrow next to it.
The big pot of water on the barbecue grille was still warm from the remnants of the breakfast fire. She took the morning dishes out of it using the tongs and pot holders to protect her hand from the heat. She didn’t feel right just discarding dishes after one use, even if there might have been enough cooking pots available for her to do that. Instead, she was washing them in the sink, then after rising all the soap off, boiling them with the remains of the cooking fire.
Leaving the dishes to dry on the small table she’d dragged out to the patio, she eased back inside and checked the first story, including all the doors and windows. Another habit to practice. This one was easier to remember. Everything was as she’d left it; closed, locked, unbroken and undisturbed. Nodding, she went upstairs one step at a time, still taking it easy on her bad knee.
“Austin, you okay?” she asked, raising her voice as she reached the upstairs hallway.
“That was a nice shot.” he called back through the open bedroom door.
“Thanks.” Clearly he was keeping an eye on them through the bedroom window.
“What’s for lunch?”
“You’re hungry already?”
“Hey, I was shot you know.”
Jessica smiled ruefully. “I know. Thank you.”
“More than once.” he said, his tone clearly amused.
“Yes, I know.”
“Just checking.”
“Less checking, more resting.” Jessica told him with a smile as she peered into one of the bedrooms she hadn’t searched yet. The room was empty, but it had been occupied by someone before whoever lived here had left. Or never come back. Or whatever. She started opening dresser drawers to look at the clothes that had been left behind.
The rest of the morning went pretty well. She turned up clothing that would fit her quite acceptably, including – wonder of wonders – underwear that was almost her size. A little loose, but she could manage around that. A dresser full of shirts and pants and so forth that would be ponchos, at best, on her; but could probably fit Austin reasonably well. No kid’s clothes of any kind, but she’d found sewing things yesterday. That offered some possibilities.
Jessica had created three piles of clothes in the master bedroom by the time she finished. She sat looking through the ones she was considering altering to fit Candice while Austin pieced through what she’d found for him.
“Are you trying to say something?” Austin asked as she considered the piles.
“What?” She looked up at him in surprise at the sudden question.
His pile was on the end of the bed where he could reach it, and when she looked he held up a pair of denim overalls. They were the about right height for him, but as he held them up she realized whoever they’d been purchased for must have been at least a hundred pounds heavier than Austin. Which was saying quite a bit; because Austin was built like a professional nose tackle.
“It’s not like I left the ones for the seven foot tall guy who’s in shape and brought you the ones for the seven foot wide guy.” she said, reddening a little.
“I’m not seven feet tall.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Guess I’ll have to gain some weight if I want these to fit.” he grinned.
“Or, we could take them in with some stitches.” she sniffed, gesturing at the basket of sewing material she’d left on one of the dressers.
“I told you, my sewing is pretty bad.”
Jessica shrugged. “So’s mine.”
“I’m shocked a modern woman like you even learned to sew at all; badly or otherwise. Doesn’t that offend the national sisterhood of female empowerment?”
“Now wait a minute.” she protested, giving him a mischievous look. “I took home-ec in school, and I even almost remember some of it. My mom made me, thought it wasn’t right if I didn’t get a grounding in what she called ‘the basics’ of being a wife. That’s my excuse. How did you, big tough he-man Army Ranger, manage to pick up sewing?”
Austin laughed. “Same reason, except the wife part. My mom insisted I take it, and made my dad shut up when he objected to his boys learning what he called ‘women’s work’. But I passed.”
Jessica got up and limped over to the basket. Pulling a needle and thread out, she tossed the spool at him. “This I’ve gotta see.”
“Sure you don’t want to help me out?”
“No, you said you know, so you give it a go. I’m going to be busy with Candice’s clothes.”
“I’ve got clothes.” Candice pointed out.
“Yes, and you’ve been wearing them for two days now. I’m going to see if I can’t get some of these others modified so you can wear them too. You need at least two outfits for when I finally get the chance to wash things.” Jessica told her daughter. “Can’t have you wandering around looking like a scarecrow, or draped in a towel.”
“You given any thought to what the next move is?” Austin asked as she picked out another needle and thread.
“I still think the food downstairs should last us at least another five days, even the way you eat.” she began.
“I was shot.” he grinned.
“So you keep telling me.” she grinned back. “Which is why I want to rest here maybe four more days. Then I thought we’d drag all three hundred pounds of you downstairs and stuff you back in the SUV, along with whatever useful supplies we can come up with, and go looking for another house. One with more food. We’ll squat there and rest some more until we’re low on food again, then repeat the process.”
“That’s your plan?”
“That’s my plan.” Jessica confirmed.
“Sure there’ll be another house?”
“Moderately. But if there’s not, we’ve still got gas, and I’ll find some more at a station somewhere if necessary. There’s still half a tank right now, which should be enough to find either food or gas.”
“Better bring a bucket, and some rope or something.” Austin advised.
“Whatever it takes.” she shrugged. “I figure, with any luck, a few weeks will see you a little more on your feet than you are now.”
“I told you I’ve taken bullets before, so I’ve got an idea how long I’m going to be on my a—off my feet.” Austin said seriously.
“So how long?”
“Probably the better part of two months, maybe three.” he admitted.
“Great.” Jessica sighed. “Well, there’s nothing for it. Better to be safe than sorry. If you rip something inside where we can’t get at it with a bandage, there’s not much we can do to fix that. You take it easy and we’ll wait for nature to do the work.”
“What then?”
Jessica gave him a look. “Honestly, I don’t know yet. But is there any point in planning that far ahead?”
“Thanks for sticking with me.” Austin said.
Jessica hesitated, then put her hands in her lap and focused on him. “I was going to say the same to you.” Even hurt, Austin was helpful. He had advice and knowledge about things like the wood for the grill, which Jessica wasn’t sure she would’ve thought of in a timely fashion. She was just too suburban, though she was starting to wrap her head around this new, and necessary, scrabble and grab way of existing.
And he was going to heal. She knew it. He had no detectable infection, and while the bullet wounds were ugly, they weren’t bleeding. If he’d had major internal damage, she figured he would have been in real trouble by now. If she could kept him fed and off his feet, he’d recover.
That would give her a backup for Candice. Jessica was clinging to that with all her might. She was still terrified of something happening to her that would leave the girl alone. Even though she didn’t have any other options, she was still quite confident Austin would see the girl through this no matter what might happen to Jessica.
And she was starting to grow more than merely fond of the big man. He had a way about
him that was more than reassuring, more than useful. In some ways, he reminded her of Brett.
“Wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave me somewhere. I eat more than you and girlie-girl here combined.” Austin said calmly, breaking into her thoughts. Jessica shook herself mentally and shrugged casually as her daughter spoke.
“We’re not leaving you!” Candice said anxiously, but her eyes darted to her mother on the rising note at the end of the sentence.
“We’re not leaving Austin anywhere.” Jessica confirmed.
“I’m just saying—” he began, but she interrupted him.
“I’m calling the shots.” Jessica said. “And that goes for after you’re up and around again. I think we’re a good team, but I’m through following someone else’s lead.” “Especially since that came this close to getting Candice and me killed, or worse.” she thought. Keeping the dark notion off her face and out of her tone, she shrugged lightly. “Why don’t we just start with food and healing, then see what happens.”
Austin gave her a very serious look, but there was something a little more in the back of his eyes. She found herself drawn to that something, and reminded herself after a moment that Candice was in the room. “Work on those clothes. Make yourself useful while you’re laying around.” she said mischievously.
“This thread doesn’t match the overalls.” Austin replied, that look still carefully hidden in the back of his gaze..
Jessica pointed a finger at him. “Shush. Like you really care what it looks like anyway.”
He shrugged. “Thought you might.”
Jessica ignored the light tint heating up her cheeks. “Maybe, but let’s just worry about the basics first and go from there.”
Austin pulled the needle from the spool and started trying to find the end of the thread. “Now you’re getting it.” he said with a wink.
* * * * *
Chapter Seventeen – New rules
Darryl
Darryl faced the group of people in the clubhouse’s back yard squarely, his shoulders held firm and solid despite his grief. Dr. Early had been wrong about Tia – she’d pulled through – but everyone else he’d thought wouldn’t make it had died. The others were recovering. They were still weak and couldn’t take more than simple broth or pieces of hard candy, but they were alive and healing. The doctor thought they’d be up and around in a few days, and in a week they’d be fine.
